Everything felt warm at first, almost like a blanket.
My world was upside down, body hanging limp in the driver’s seat and held by the seatbelt. The Land Rover pressed against in unnatural angles, tal groaning, glass biting into my arms. My head throbbed with the rhythm of blood pounding in my skull.
The pain was a step above unbearable. White, hot, searing.
When i managed to open my eyes, the light was harsh, beaming through the fractured windows. Blood pooled in my left eye. I could barely even see straight— fractured scenes of ruin etching into my mind.
Twisted tal, a shattered dashboard, wires snaking like exposed veins.
My only working eye narrowed.
The blonde woman was gone. Just... vanished. A part of wanted relief. Another part panicked. I never wanted to know what part she’d run off to.
Then i heard it— a voice. Raw, strained, frantic.
"ADRIAN!! ADRIAN!!! I’M SO SORRY! PLEASE, BABY, STAY WITH !!!"
My ears barely caught it at first. Muffled, quivering, almost breaking my heart by the sheer panic in it. I turned my head with all the effort I could muster.
Lila.
Her face was streaked with tears and blood, glass digging into her palms, yet she didn’t flinch. She tore at the outside of the car like a woman possessed, determined to reach no matter what. Her feral focus was terrifying. Her sobs, jagged, ragged, desperate— tethered to life.
It was a stark contrast to how she was acting before.
My jaw refused to move, words caught in the wreckage that was my mind.
Dumbass. You’re the one who caused this.
I felt my consciousness drifting off as Lila’s voice grew more clearer, her movents becoming more frantic as she fought against the car’s ruins to get ahold of .
In that mont, all I wanted to do was sleep.
Everything ca back in pieces.
At first, it was just sound— the low, constant roar of tires rumbling across the asphalt. A steady vibration humd through the seat beneath , syncing with my heartbeat like so chanical lullaby. My body felt heavy... drained... like soone had put cent blocks on my limbs.
Then, I heard it.
Soft. Humming. Familiar.
I forced my eyes open.
Lila sat beside , hands steady on the wheel, a faint smile across her lips as she humd a tune I couldn’t decipher. Her blonde hair stuck to her cheeks in tangled streaks of dried blood and sweat.
When she noticed I was awake, her eyes flicked from the road, and sothing warm lit up her face.
"My love—! I thought I’d lost you..."
Her free hand found mine, fingers sliding between my own like it was the most natural thing in the world. I tried to pull away, but my body didn’t respond. I was still too weak... or probably too scared.
"You’re safe now..."
Then everything hit .
The set-up.
The chase.
The crash.
Her screams.
tal crushing around .
mory slamd into like a freight train.
I jerked upright, breath catching, a sharp pain spiking through my head. My hand flew to my temple as my vision swam.
Lila flinched. Her smile dimd, her grip loosening just a little.
"A— are you okay??"
"The mission—..."
The words ca out of before I could stop them.
Her brows knit together, a flicker of hesitation crossing her features.
"What about the mission?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
"Terri, Aubrey, the others..."
Lila’s expression darkened. The air in the car shifted— thickening. Her eyes cut away from , locking back on the road as her knuckles whitened against the steering wheel.
"They’re... um..."
She paused for too long.
Spit it out already, damn it.
"They’re dead."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I’m the only one who survived."
Everything inside went cold as I felt my vision tunneled once more.
"What...?"
My words felt strained, like I lost my voice.
But she wasn’t finished.
A strange, hopeful smile crept back onto her expression— gentle, serene.
"But that’s alright—!" she said brightly, squeezing my hand with sudden enthusiasm.
"It’s just gonna be and you now, just like it was before. All we need is each other..."
Her thumb brushed my knuckles.
My eyes flickered towards Lila— scanning every micro expression I saw on her face.
Aubrey...her best friend since middle school, and she just suddenly claims she was dead without a second to linger in mourning?
You’d think after more than 2 years of being together, I was able to pinpoint the exact mont where she was lying.
I knew deep down. Yet, I didn’t say anything.
I drew a slow breath, my ribs grinding with the motion.
"Look, Lila...I— I need sowhere to stay for a bit," I murmured, choosing my words carefully.
"Just take back to the camp for now."
Her reaction was instant.
"Sweetie, ... I don’t— that’s not a good idea. Those people are psychos. They wanted you dead from the—"
"Lila, just listen to for once in your life."
Frustration had involuntarily spilled over.
She froze, fingers tightening around the steering wheel until the leather creaked.
"I just want so place to rest," I whispered.
"Please."
She sighed.
And for a mont, all I heard was the heavy drag of her breath— the kind that carried frustration, fear, and sothing darker that knotted low in my stomach.
Outside, the road humd beneath us. Streetlights passed in slow, rhythmic flashes over her face, cutting her expression into alternating slices of shadow and gold. Her jaw clenched.
"We don’t stay long, alright? I’m not letting that scarred baldie near you again for a second."
I didn’t answer.
It had been hours before we finally rolled into camp.
The mont the front tires climbed over the familiar dirt ridge, I felt anxiety crawl up my spine. The camp looked different now. More rugged, sohow more chaotic than the way we’d left it. Tents slumped in uneven rows. Tools were scattered across the ground. Smoke curled from a half-collapsed fire pit, its bitter burn stabbing straight up my nostrils and dragging out of the fog of exhaustion.
It was like soone had been here.
The car barely stopped before people sward us.
Faces I recognized for the few days I had been here.
They looked way too hungry for answers.
It didn’t take a minute before questions exploded around like gunfire. I found myself freezing at them, anxiety filling my spirit.
I shouldn’t have been the one to survive.
"What happened?"
"Where are the others?"
"Why are only you two back?"
"Is the mission compromised—?"
Hands reached toward , not touching but hovering, unsure. Their eyes alternated from to Lila and back again, as if they were searching for clues.
I felt Lila stiffen beside . Her fingers tightened around my arm. Not enough to hurt, but enough to warn them all to back off.
I swallowed a lump in my throat, saying nothing.
Then I saw her.
The buzzed, scarred woman stood at the edge of the crowd, half in shadow, half lit by the orange glow of a nearby lantern. Her eyes tracked with a grim heaviness that I couldn’t read. Worry? Anger? Guilt? It flickered too quickly to make sense of.
For a mont, I expected her to walk toward us.
To push through the crowd.
To demand answers. The sa way she did with Aubrey.
To ask if I was hurt, where the others were, anything.
But she didn’t.
She only turned, walking away with brisk footsteps.
Not an ounce of hesitation.
No glance back.
My eyebrow lifted, confusion slicing through the haze in my head.
The fuck? That was it?
After everything? After she’d sent us out, the shit we faced, after what almost killed — she couldn’t even pretend to care?
A cold weight settled in my gut.
Yeah, sothing was wrong.
More wrong than Lila’s bullshit lie.
More wrong than the the blonde woman, the trap we’d foolishly fallen into, the crash.
More wrong than the mission itself.
And as the crowd pressed closer and Lila pulled tighter to her side,
I realized the scarred woman wasn’t just avoiding us.
She was avoiding the truth.
I was gonna start listening to my gut from now on.
User Comments
0 comments from readers